Distance
by Sophia Musgraves
Summary: "Then his hand was reaching for hers and she had never been more grateful of him being left-handed, it made up for all the times she had been jolted by him while writing an essay or eating dinner and as their hands intertwined she could feel only him and his warmth..."


**A/N: Different from my usual style, but though I may as well post it :)**

**Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I most certainly do not own Harry Potter.**

* * *

She was distracted when it happened.

People viewed her as it ditz, a blonde, an airhead, but she really wasn't. She was brave and kind, and gave people her undivided attention- the very virtue that brought about her downfall.

She was fighting, fighting for her life alongside him, and dust was thick in the air, muting the vibrance of spells that lured death even closer to the two of them.

They were being chased by death eaters up a winding staircase and she thanked whoever was watching down on them at that moment for blessing her and him with better fitness than their pursuers but then they were bursting through the only door at the top, skidding to a sudden stop and it seemed as if the world had slowed down, and she was relishing every breath, taking it as though it was her last, when her hand was taken by his and she turned to face the man she'd started to fall in love with. He was opening his mouth to speak, but this was no time for words- they were about to die, to be killed without mercy. And so she gathered the last shred of courage she possessed and leant in. Their first kiss wasn't gentle or sweet, it was filled with desperation and sadness, each acknowledging that their first would also be their last.

And then the world was speeding up again and they had to break apart and stand tall, because after all they were Gryffindors, and they had to be brave, even if the empty air was behind them waiting and only a wooden door was between them and certain death. With a wave of his wand the door was not wood anymore, it was stone and they could hear the grunts as their enemy crashed into it but those sounds of pain quickly turned to sounds of anger and fear was welling up inside her like never before.

Then his hand was reaching for hers and she had never been more grateful of him being left-handed, it made up for all the times she had been jolted by him while writing an essay or eating dinner and as their hands intertwined she could feel only him and his warmth, and her heart was filled with ardour, and gladness at the fact that he was beside her now, and they could be together in their last moments.

But the stone door was trembling under the stress applied and she knew time was running out, and a bang resonated and they were thrown up in the air like rag dolls, tossing in the nothingness and his hand had slipped from hers. She had never felt so empty as she did then, with the cold air rushing to grip where his hand had been and in the back of her mind she considered the irony that it had been an explosion that had caused him to plummet to his death, with her close behind.

She was spiralling downwards for what seemed like an eternity and while she hoped it would stop soon for she could not bear the emptiness around her, she feared what was to come, and too soon she connected with the ground, hearing the sickening crunch of her bones being destroyed, and her neck was forced into a strange angle. She would have been in immeasurable pain if not for the fact that her head was pointed towards him and she could see him as clearly as he could see her, their eyes connecting over the distance that parted them, and oh, that distance was just too far. Yet she was flung through the air again and she landed closer to him than before and everything was better because she could be near him again, until she felt the teeth sinking into her battered body and the pain was tearing her apart, it wouldn't stop, she couldn't make it stop and _why wouldn't it stop?_ Then the teeth were gone now but the pain continued ripping through her body and all she could do was reach out her hand to grasp his hand but it was just too far away and their fingertips brushed once, twice, before his arm went slack and she saw the light leave his eyes. His eyes without light was like her life without him; unnatural. She couldn't imagine anything worse, so she closed her eyes too and gave into the pain, letting it consume her, destroy her, kill her.

And that was how they were found, laying crumpled side by side with their arms outstretched, yet not close enough to touch, unable to bring them together for the last time.

* * *

**A/N: Please, please drop a review! I'd love to hear your opinion on this!**

**Also, just a quick note, I personally do not believe that Lavender OR Seamus died in the battle, but when I saw in the book that two people fell from a balcony overhead and one of them was Lavender, this idea just popped into my head, and needed to be written.**

**It doesn't mean that I want or think that either of them died- quite the opposite, actually!**

**Thank you for reading :)**

**-Sophia**


End file.
